Deep cycle battery????????

Got a set of jumper leads? Use your vehicle to recharge it.

hello jonboy,

Your battery may not be stuffed, the problem with a lot of deep cycle batterys is when they get very low they will not accept a charge.

Most batterys in new vehicles including calcium and AGM can not be charged by your run of the mill $20 to $200 battery charges sucsesfully, we have just purchased 2 new battery charges that can charge these batterys and it has a reconditioning mode for sulphated plates.

The one we are using in our 4wd is a Redarc 5 amp switch mode type (check out there web site for more info), we use a 25amp version (differant brand) for the workshop.

regards Richard

Question;
How did it get down to only 2 volts in just 6 months ??

You may still have a good battery on your hands, as long as it was not discharged under load, and if its quite new.
On the other hand, if its old and it was flattened by a light connected to it or something, disharged under load, it will be sulphated and useless.
With deep cycle batteries, they usually dont accept charge for a while, then later they start to accept charge. Just hook it up to a trickle charger (or a normal one will do) for a week and then test it by doing a load test. Hook something up to it that draws about ten amps or so, like a spotlight or a air fan (like a electric radiator fan, good job for a hot day in the shed!) and note what time and what voltage it starts at. THen at 10 min intervals mark down what the volts are. When it gets to 10.8 volts stop. This will give you an idea what kind of capacity it has. If it only took 20 mins or so to get to 10.8 volts then its useless and you need to chuck it away. A normal deep cycle battery which is about 75amp/H will take 4 to 6 hours to get down to 10.8 volts at this rate.